Week 6 Thing 15

It is a bit difficult to separate out my feelings as a library professional from those of my citizen self. When Rick Anderson lobs the "look skeptically at the very idea of a library “collection” grenade, my citizen self feels the shrapnel impact. As a professional, I recognize the need to bob and weave to keep up and anticipate the needs of citizens.

While I believe in the mantra "Make and effort, not an excuse" I feel there are some challenges to "keeping up". I do take responsibility for my learning, hence my enrollment in this class, but we are faced with some logistical issues handled differently in the private sector. In tech heavy industries money, personnel and staff development are dedicated to keeping people in the loop because their success and or failure may depend on it. Public institutions like libraries do not have those luxuries. The job as it currently exists must be delivered AND consideration must be given to where services might be going and the ground work is laid for this simultaneously.

As Anderson states "No profession can survive if it throws its core principles and values overboard in response to every shift in the zeitgeist." Let's face it those "shifts" he's referring to are more frequent than the mood of a female 16 year old! I have difficult striking a balance between unresponsiveness and band wagon jumping. My "committment issues" come shining through when it comes to dedicated limited budget and labor dollars to projects and developments without having a firm confidence that will effect library users or efficiency.